Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc From: [k--p--i] at [brahms.udel.edu] (James John Krupski) Subject: Philadelphia Comicfest `93: some observations Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1993 21:34:33 GMT Well, I'd never been to a BIG con before. The biggest comic convention I'd ever been to previously can only be described as a dealer's room with door prizes. I felt like a wide-eyed hick; I was AMAZED. Doubtless, to jaded con veterans, an over-elaborated detailed description such as the following will be boring. I have warned you. So many bizarre things going on and people dressed up strangely; it reminded me over and over again of the last part of Gaiman's Golden Age Miracleman: _Carnival_. Arrival I was very glad my companions insisted on going early; the line was already substantial an hour ahead of time, and once we got in I kept busy every minute until the dealers put sheets on their tables at closing time. It was discouraging to see so many people on line fingering copies of WIZARD. A few people looked strangely at our JOHN BATES DIED FOR *YOUR SINS* buttons, but I suppose one must give and take on such occasions (I know I did my share of staring at other people too --- I'd never seen a senior citizen in a Venom jacket before). Admittance They opened the doors at 2pm, and we only had an hour before the debate. I confess I didn't get much shopping done in that first hour, just wandered around and picked up freebies and observed the spectacle. At the end of the day, I had so much free stuff that I didn't know just who had given me what. Most of it was useless fliers but I also got a free copy of Advance Comics, and now that I've read it, I can tell you that I'm glad my store gets Previews instead. The Debate Well, it happened pretty much as it's been described here on racm, all the comments about battle of wits with an unarmed man ring true. Also, and I didn't fully recognize it until afterwards, McF~ did indeed play the part of the bewildered putupon innocent, hypocritically so, since he was the one who provoked the whole thing. BTW, there were at LEAST two dozen camcorders in the room. Spectators near the front may not have noticed all the guys in back with minicams. The Moderator Well, it's true he's not a public speaker, but he did a good job of controlling the crowd, giving us a pep talk first, chiding Todd for submitting his questions late, giving us a good excuse to laugh at McF~, and then saying, "Good, get it out of your system now!" The crowd was unusually well-behaved (except for Erik Larsen's obscene gesture, which I didn't see personally) and for that I give credit to the moderator. By the way folks... don't ever call him George Perez. It's George PAY-rez, he made a big deal out of that. ---- I was quite disappointed that Peter David couldn't hang around to sign autographs. More so when I was chatting with the guy ahead of me in the George Perez line, telling each other what we'd get signed, and he bragged that he had spotted PAD in the crowd and pulled him aside to sign his Future Imperfects. I was jealous. After a short wait, he got them signed by Perez as well, and then it was my turn. I could see he was trying to appear cheerful and friendly in the face of what was obviously a tedious, repetitive chore for him, so I didn't ask him anything, just told him how much I liked his art while he signed my stuff and let the next guy have his chance. Scott McCloud There were less than half a dozen people in line, so Scott took the time to chat with each one. When my turn came, he signed my copy of _Understanding Comics_, and remarked on what a well-enjoyed copy it seemed to be ("Thank you for breaking the spine.") We had a brief discussion of icons, Umberto Eco, and Art Speigleman while he doodled symbols all around his signature. Quite a friendly, articulate guy. Other Comics Pros Chuck Dixon wasn't around on Friday. I was hoping to get him to sign my Robin #1 and tell him in person why I was disappointed with it compared to his pre-Knightfall issues of Detective. Oh well. ---- Joe Jusko and Peter Laird were there. Unfortunately I didn't have anything of theirs to sign, but I went and looked at them anyway. They say a cat may look at a king. ]:-1 ---- The two artists on MARVELS were there, but I stupidly I didn't get them to sign anything. They were giving away free MARVELS posters too, I could have gotten them to sign that. Oh well. Strange Behaviour @There was some kind of big glass booth full of coupons. You pay to get in it, by the minute, and they turn on the wind machine and you try to grab as many of the coupons as you can. I didn't try it. @There was a platform where kids were actually playing Pog games. I was glad to see the Pog thing wasn't just a collector's phenomenon. @There were two babes in their underwear giving away fliers at the WIZARD table. There were four Rams cheerleaders at the Image table signing their own trading cards. There was an attractive dark-haired woman selling autographed topless pictures of herself. (Really.) @There were two Deviant Comics booths. One of them was surrounded by foam-rubber statues of various Defiant characters. Bargains I'm sure I must have missed other strange stuff, I spent almost all of my time after the debate with my head down dredging thru the bargain bins. Folks, I haven't seen deals like this in my LIFE! I ran out of money around 7:30 (whimper)... and I only bought 2 $3 comics and one $2 comic: everything else I bought was a dollar or LESS. I'm glad I brought a great big carry-on bag, I filled it up! Let me just add that if anyone out there has a gimmick-cover fetish, you could have picked up LOTS of foil-prism-stamped-glowing-whatever covers for peanuts. Even Magneto #0 was $2... you get the idea. Costumes The Bedrock costume was simply incredible -- the head moved, the jaw opened, the elbows bent, there was some sort of spooky voice-box inside (#I##LIKE##TODD#) and it looked cool. In fact it looked better than Liefield's artwork itself. I have to be honest and praise the costume itself even though I was angry the way they paraded the damn thing into the debate room, flanked by the Rams cheerleaders, during PAD's opening statement, and left it in the middle of the room where we in the cheap seats couldn't see. There were other inexplicable things going on during the debate -- McF~ was in his underwear, and Perez kept saying "Is there a problem?" evidently because Todd was fiddling with his boombox -- but the damn Bedrock thing was the most distracting. Afterwards, Bedrock took a couple of turns around the convention floor, preceded by security guards hustling people out of the way. To me this meant that the guy inside couldn't see very well, and they didn't want him to trip. If he DID trip, he probably couldn't stand up by himself, which conjured up an amusing mental image of a little guy writhing on the floor, the pieces of styrofoam starting to seperate, unable to stand, helpless as an overturned turtle. But I was good, I didn't trip him. ]:-> ---- There were a Grifter and a Zealot wandering around, but I didn't know who they were, I had to ask. Their costumes looked credible, I guess, for outlandish costumes that is. (For those of you who don't know who they are, there's a cover of them by Jim Lee on this week's CSN.) ---- There was a Death's Head II wandering around, he looked pretty funky, his elaborate metal parts spit-shined, his stagger unsteady. He was actually pretty scary-looking, he was a HUGE tall muscular guy. ---- There were reports of a Spider-man, Mantra, and Vampirella as well, but I must have had my head in a bargain bin. ---- Compared with the other three Image costumes, the Spawn costume didn't impress me. Neither did the repulsive Violator sculpture or the Spawnmobile. I experienced a brief fit of rage at seeing this pathetic, gaudy vehicle that my money helped upholster. NEVER AGAIN! (OK, maybe I'm a little biased.) ---- There was a Adam West-style Batman, complete with potbelly. You could also get your picture taken in the original Batmobile for $5. I declined but it was neat to see the thing close up. ---- You could get your picture taken with a really gorgeous Marilyn Monroe lookalike too, although I suppose that doesn't really count as a costume. ---- And then there was me -- I wore a white lightning bolt on my chest and hoped that someone would recognize me as John Tensen, the Justice Warrior, but nobody said anything. ]:-1 Afterwards Was it worth $10 for six hours? Folks, as I said to the guy seated next to me in the cheap seats, it was worth the ten dollars just to watch McF~ make a fool of himself. Next year, though, I'd like to be there all four days, take my time, look all the way thru the bargain bins instead of just skimming them, bring real money and finish off my shopping list. I was sorry to miss McCloud's presentation on Saturday, and Ellison's ranting on Sunday (I've heard he give great rant ]:-1 ), but even for one day it was _definitely_ worth it. Friday was a GREAT day. -Slippery Jim